Western Europe: Map

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Western Europe is the collection of countries in
the westernmost region of Europe, though this
definition is context-dependent
and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes
Western Europe as a cultural entity—the region lying west of
Central Europe. Another definition
was created during the Cold War and used to
describe the non-Communist states of Europe; as a result,
geographically central and eastern countries that steered clear of
Soviet influence during the Cold War are usually included, while Western
members of the former Eastern Bloc are
excluded.

Classical antiquity and medieval origins

As Roman domain expanded a cultural and
linguistic division appeared between the mainly Greek-speaking eastern provinces which had
formed the highly urbanized Hellenistic civilization. In
contrast, the western territories largely adopted the Latin language. This cultural and linguistic
division was eventually reinforced by the later political east-west
division of the Roman Empire

Post-war Europe would be divided into two major spheres: the West, influenced by the United States, and
the Eastern Bloc, dominated by the
Soviet Union. With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by
the Iron Curtain.

Although some countries were officially neutral, they were classified according to
the nature of their political and economical systems. This division
has largely defined the popular perception and understanding of
Western Europe and its borders with Eastern Europe till this
day.

Eastern Europe

Eastern Europe, in the view accepted after the second World War, was mainly composed of
all the European countries occupied by the Soviet army.
It
included the German Democratic Republic, widely known as East Germany, formed by the
Soviet occupation zone of
Germany. All the countries in Eastern Europe had Communist
regimes imposed upon them. Most of these countries were officially
independent from the Soviet Union, but the practical extent of this
independence was quite limited. In some matters many of them were
little more than client-state of the
Soviet Union.

The
Socialist Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (formed after World War II and before its later
dismemberment) was not a member of the Warsaw Pact. It was a founding member of
the Non-Aligned Movement, an
organization created in an attempt to avoid being assigned to any
of the two blocs. It was demonstratively independent from the
Soviet Union for most of the Cold War period, but because of its
communist regime it was widely regarded part of the
Eastern/communist bloc.

Albania broke with
the Soviet Union in the early 1960s as a result of the Sino-Soviet split, aligning itself instead
with China. Despite this, it had a communist regime and thus
was considered part of the Eastern/communist bloc.

Italy, a former
Axis Power which had surrendered and been
occupied by the Western Allies.

Ireland gained its independence from the United Kingdom in
1922. It remained neutral during the war. It never joined
NATO but it joined the European Union in 1973.

The Nordic countries were
special cases. Denmark and Norway had been
conquered by Nazi Germany but were not liberated by the
allies.During the war Iceland, then still united with Denmark under the kingdom
of Denmark, had been invaded and
occupied by the United Kingdom and the United States without
any casualties of any nationality. Iceland proclaimed its
full independence during the war.

Austria and Switzerland were also special cases. Austria had been
incorporated into Nazi Germany through the Anschluss before the war, while Switzerland had
remained neutral throughout the war. After the war both of them
remained neutral, in the case of Austria through the Austrian State Treaty. Austria
eventually joined the European Union but not NATO. Switzerland
declined membership of NATO and the European Union but did join
EFTA.

Portugal, Spain, and
Greece, formerly
under authoritarian regimes, became parliamentarian democracies in
the mid-1970s. They subsequently joined the European Union. Spain and Greece
joined NATO at around that time, but Portugal had been a founding
member of NATO (1949) and
EFTA (1960), during the Estado
Novo regime (1932-1974).

Later political developments

The world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in
1989. The Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the
Democratic Republic of Germany, leading to the German reunification. COMECON and the
Warsaw Pact were dissolved, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to
exist. Several countries which had been part of the Soviet Union
regained their full independence.

Although the term Western Europe was largely defined of
the Cold War, it still remains much in use. The term is commonly
used in the media and in everyday use both in "western" and other
regions of Europe.

Western Europe has increasingly less to do with the
European Union. The 1995, 2004, and 2007 enlargements saw many
post-communist countries joining the EU, and a view that Europe is
divided strictly into the West and the East is sometimes considered
patronising or pejorative by many in the countries of Central Europe .

Present time

Definition used by the United Nations Statistics Division

[[Image:Europe subregion map UN
geoschme.svg|right|thumb|250px|Contemporary statistical regions of Europe as delineated by the United Nations (UN definition of Western
Europe marked light blue):

]]

The United Nations Statistics
Division considers Western Europe to consist of the following nine
countries, except in the case of United Nations Regional
Groups, in which the term also includes northern and southern
Europe:

However, it should be noticed that this statistical division was
designed during the Cold War period.
According to the UN Statistics Division, the assignment of
countries or areas to specific groupings is for statistical
convenience and does not imply any assumption regarding political
or other affiliation of countries or territories by the United
Nations.